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from the start-counting-the-pennies,-er,-yen dept.
Submitted via IRC for Bytram
Trump's 15 percent tariff on Chinese goods kicks in
It's the first day of September, marked by a new round of tariffs on Chinese imports, which went into effect Sunday. In latest escalation of the trade war with China, the Trump administration has slapped a 15% tariff on $112 billion worth of Chinese goods (PDF), something consumers can expect to feel when buying everything from milk to diapers to some China-manufactured tech products like the Apple Watch.
But on Aug. 13, the USTR said it would offer a temporary reprieve to a batch of about $160 billion products (PDF) like laptops and cellphones. Those goods won't be subject to the new tariffs until Dec. 15 -- an attempt to blunt the impact of the duties on the holiday shopping season. Trump later raised the new tariff on Chinese goods to a 15% rate rather than the initial 10%.
China retaliated Sunday with its own tariff plan taking effect at 12:01 p.m. local time. It's rolling out higher tariffs in stages on a total of about $75 billion in US goods like soybeans and crude oil. It'll also resume an extra 25% duty on cars imported from the US on Dec. 15.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 06 2019, @12:44AM (1 child)
Around half of Americans can't afford a $400 emergency, and almost none can afford a $1,000 emergency. Medical bankruptcies - which don't even exist in other first world countries - are one of the leading causes of bankruptcy. Many people are underemployed, and the vast majority of job gains have been for low-paying jobs. Factory jobs continue to be outsourced under Trump, even as he lies and claims they aren't.
The economy isn't good for ordinary people. It's great for the mega-rich, though, who benefit the most by far when the stock market is up. You know, the same mega-rich that Trump just gave tax cuts to, because they definitely needed even more money.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday September 07 2019, @03:37AM
What percent of Americans' take home pay is that? My take is that for the vast majority, even the $1,000 is well under 10%. So if people can't afford such emergencies (or at least can't afford to put the emergency on a credit card) when they're earning far more than enough to pay for those emergencies, then why is it something we should care about? Just rub their noses in the pile of shit they created like you would any puppy. Presumably, they're smarter than puppies, right? And should learn rather quickly.
What's not good about it? You have wealth, choice, and a pretty exciting world.